You Wouldn't Know Her, She Goes to a Muggle School
by Jane Andrews Ellis
Summary: Harri's life changes when she goes to an all-girls school and meets Hermione before Hogwarts. They become fast friends, but when Harri leaves for Hogwarts without Hermione, their friendship is tested. It's not until just before Harri's 5th year that it's revealed Hermione is a witch, and now she has a lot of catching up to do. fem!Harry x Hermione
1. Chapter 1

~June 1988~

Harriet Potter, perhaps better known as Harri, stood on a wooden stool in front of the stove, bacon and eggs sizzling and coming along nicely. She thought she'd become a decent cook over the past year, though her relatives might not want her believe that about herself.

"Hurry up girl," Vernon barked from the dining room table, as he did most every morning. Harri knew that there was no way that she would ever please her uncle, and with no way to speed up the preparation of the Dursleys' meal, Harri continued methodically tending to the eggs and bacon, enjoying the wonderful smells as she cooked, and trying to imagine what they might taste like.

A minute or two later, Harri heard the mail flap creak on its hinges and then a small stack of mail hit the floor. She had a very keen sense of hearing; she had to in order to be able to sneak into the kitchen late at night, only moving when she could hear that the rest of the house was asleep.

"Girl, go get the mail," Vernon demanded in a smug tone. Harri could almost see the smirk on his face with her back turned. She knew he wanted any excuse to criticize her cooking, and then punish her for it, so she gave the food on the stove one last flip and then jumped down from her step stool and scampered to the front hall to pick up the mail. In her haste, her foot caught the edge of the foyer rug and sent her tumbling to the floor, landing almost entirely on one knee. Her knee ached and her leg felt a little numb, and it would probably probably be black and blue later, but she knew that this would pale in comparison to what her punishment would be if she didn't get up quickly and get back to tending to the stove.

Back in the dining room, Vernon let out a half chuckle as he heard the sound of his niece falling to the floor. Half limping, but still trying to move quickly, Harri set down a stack of mail in front of him, then raced back to tend to his breakfast. He looked through the pile idly, but nothing seemed important. He would leave the rest for Petunia to deal with. Just a moment later, as if called for, Petunia came down the stairs to join him at the table.

"Good morning Honey," Petunia greeted him along with a quick peck on his cheek. He hardly looked up, more focused on the paper and on his increasingly impatient appetite. Petunia sat down across from him and started sorting through their mail.

Vernon turned in his seat, about to chastise Harri again for the absence of his food, but saw the girl already carrying it over to the table. She silently and carefully served them, giving Vernon close to three times the amount that was on Petunia's plate, just as she was supposed to. He gave it a little taste and found it quite good, but of course he couldn't say that to her. "It's edible, girl, but next time don't dawdle about and let it burn, hah!" he chuckled. The girl looked relieved that he wasn't going to criticize her more, and bowed her head. "You can make yourself some toast and then go to your room," he added graciously.

Harri limped back to the kitchen and made herself two pieces of toast lightly buttered; if she took more Vernon get mad again. Harri quickly retreated back to the safety of her cupboard under the stairs, and happily nibbled on her toast. It had been a good–if ordinary–morning, but that was about to change.

From her cupboard Harri could hear the conversation going on in the dining room. She had to strain a bit to catch what Petunia said, but it would be hard to miss Vernon's booming voice. Alone in the darkness, she pressed her ear to the door and listened.

"Look at this Vernon, this is odd. It seems to concern the little freak." Harri was just as surprised as Petunia by this development. She could hardly imagine a reason that anyone would write to her or about her.

"What is it? An invitation to a school? Is this some of that _freak _business?" Vernon questioned angrily.

"Well, no, or at least I don't think so. St Catherine's school for girls… we could do a bit of research, but I think I've heard of them before," Petunia replied pensively.

"Well why should we do anything about it? Why should we have her go to some fancy school?"

"Well dear, it seems that we wouldn't need to do anything or pay anything. They'll take her, and then she can be kept away from Duddikins. And look, in a few years we could even have her stay there, and we could go back to being a normal family."

Harri's eyes widened in surprise in the dark. She couldn't believe her luck. Now she only had to hope that Petunia could convince Vernon, and she'd be able to get away from her horrible family for most of the day.

"Well I suppose I'll do a little bit of digging into it, it would be nice to get rid of her as much as possible," Vernon grumbled.

Back in the cupboard under the stairs, Harri wanted to dance and cheer in victory. Instead, she settled for pumping a fist and smiling, hoping against hope that finally she might catch a break.

* * *

~October 1988~

Hermione prowled the rows of the St Catherine's School library. The librarian had informed her that the book she was looking for hadn't been checked out, but there was a very conspicuous gap in the set of books where it normally would be found. So now she was searching the rest of the library, trying to find out if perhaps some other student had taken to read while remaining in the room.

She had come across a few small groups of girls reading or doing work, but after invading their personal spaces to check the titles of the books they had with them, she kept moving in search of her target. Eventually she made her way to the very back corner which was furnished with a few beanbags. She'd already gone by here once before, but apparently she'd missed something the last time, as now she noticed someone. There, wedged in between a pair of the beanbags, was a very small girl holding a book. Hermione approached and tried to get a look at the cover, and sure enough it was what she was looking for.

Before she could say anything, the girl peered over the top of book, and upon seeing Hermione so close to her, jumped back and almost submerged herself under the beanbags. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," Hermione called out quietly.

Slowly, the other girl pulled herself out and straightened her glasses, but left her messy black hair to hang partially over her face. She pulled the book back closer to her defensively, and just stared back up at Hermione.

Hermione was a bit thrown off by the lack of a response, but pressed on anyways. "Well I was looking to find a book, but it wasn't there, and it seems that you have it. I must say, I didn't expect to find _The Hobbit_ being read by someone in reception*."

The strange girl continued to stare up at her, holding the book in front of her face like a shield, before finally responding cautiously, "I'm not in reception. I'm the same age as you. I'm in your class."

Hermione was shocked, but tried not to let it show. The girl would be small even for some of the younger grades, and seemingly quite thin too, though it was hard to tell under the girls baggy old clothes. She was also rather embarrassed that she didn't recognize one of the girls in her class. "Oh. Well then I'm very sorry. May I know your name?" she asked politely.

"I'm Harri," the raven-haired girl responded bluntly. "And I already know you're Hermione." Hermione blushed, further embarrassed by the fact that this girl knew her, but she didn't recognize Harri.

Harri looked down to try to start reading again, but Hermione wasn't satisfied yet. "So, have you been the reason why this book has been missing for the last month?" Harri looked up at her a bit defensively, but simply nodded after a moment. "Why's that?" Hermione continued. "Why not just check it out?"

Harri paused, unsure how much to say, but eventually answered. "Well umm, my family wouldn't want me bringing books home, especially not books like this one. So I just read it here during lunch and after school."

Hermione looked mortified, as if that was the most horrible thing she'd ever heard. "What!?" she yelled loudly, then quickly realizing what she'd done she looked to the librarian across the room and mouthed "sorry." Turning to face Harri again, she continued quietly but passionately, "Why would they not want you taking books home!? _The Hobbit_ is one of the best books ever!"

Under this line of questioning, Harri curled up into a ball, clutching the book and looked away from Hermione. She realized that Harri might not want to talk about something like that, especially to someone she hardly knew, and decided to try to change the topic. "So you've been reading it for over a month now, right? Are you getting close to the end?" Hermione asked.

Harri looked up and shook her head, then reached out with the book to offer it to Hermione. "I'm sorry, you probably want the book, don't you?"

"Oh, no, if you haven't finished it, please keep reading. I've actually already read it twice but I just love it so much!" At that Harri gave her a look like she thought that Hermione was slightly crazy. "So have you gotten to the part where Bilbo gets the, wait, just tell me where you are in the story so I don't give anything away." Hermione sat down on one of the adjacent beanbags and started discussing her favorite book with Harri, who slowly started to come out of her shell as they chatted quietly in the back corner of the library.

* * *

Author's Notes:

*Reception is the English equivalent to kindergarten in the US. Or so it seems from a bit of online research. I'm American, so if this is not correct, or I miss something like this in the future, I do apologize and I'll try to fix it.

If you would be so kind as to leave a review, it would be really wonderful to me. Getting feedback like that is proof that someone out there has read this and enjoyed it, and that there's a reason to keep posting on here.

~ JAE


	2. Chapter 2

~November 1998~

Harri very much enjoyed sitting in the back of the classroom. It was almost perfect, but just missing one thing: Hermione, who sat in the very front row. It wasn't the end of the world, as during class Hermione would likely be unable to focus on anything besides the lesson. She always knew the answer to every question their teacher would ask, and her hand would rocket into the air above her head and then wave around like it was painful for her to keep the answer in. And that made a lot of people dislike Hermione. It was mostly their classmates, but even their teacher, Ms. Atkinson, seemed to be annoyed by Hermione. Harri didn't mind at all though; it was just a little quirk of her new best friend, her only friend. The question on Harri's mind now was whether to do anything about it.

As class ended for the day, and all the girls got up to leave, a small group that sat near the back around Harri started to chat. "When she puts her hand up like that it looks like she needs to pee." All of them started giggling at that remark.

"And she always talks like she knows everything, she's so annoying," another chimed in.

"Is she trying to be a teacher's pet or something?"

Harri had heard enough, her small body overflowing with anger at hearing them insult her friend. She packed up her things and moved past them to the exit, but as she went by she couldn't stop herself from putting a shoulder into the back of the girl who had started it.

"Hey, watch where you're going, you little freak." Upon hearing the work "freak," Harri flinched and turned away, heading for the exit and Hermione, but not before hearing one last comment, "At least the weirdos stick to themselves," followed by another bout out laughter.

Harri tried to put that unpleasantness out of her head as she found Hermione waiting outside the classroom. Sometimes she envied the naiveté of her friend, oblivious to all the people that made fun of Hermione for being a know-it-all and Harri for her small size, old baggy boy's clothes and untamable hair. Hermione seemed happy almost all the time and Harri didn't want to drag her spirits down.

"Hey Hermione, I finished _The Hobbit_ yesterday," she informed the bookworm as they met up in the hall and started toward the library. She'd been pestering Harri about finishing it for, well really since they first met.

Hermione let out a little squeal of excitement as she practically dragged her friend to the library. "Oh, I can't wait to talk about it with you! And then I can get you started on the sequels; they're just as good!" They quickly made their way back to their personal spot in the back corner of the library. After a few weeks of coming here every everyone seemed to understand it as their spot.

As they went through the rows of books, Hermione nimbly picked out a book without even stopping, and practically dropped it on Harri as they sat down on the beanbags. "So. What was your favorite part?" Hermione asked eagerly, bouncing in her seat with the same energy she had in class. Harri just stared at her for a moment, admiring her relentless enthusiasm as she tried to think of her response.

Hermione filled the silence though, unable to contain herself for too long, "Well my favorite part is 'Riddles in the Dark.' Well the riddles were easy–I figured them all out–but it's so cool to see a hero win through his smarts and not just fighting. And the ring, the ring is–well I probably shouldn't say too much if you're going to read the next books. And speaking of that, here." Hermione pushed the book into Harri's arms. "There's three more, and they're really good too. I just finished them this summer."

As her friend rattled on about the book Harri smiled, a rare occasion except around Hermione. When she finally stopped, Harri tried to answer her original question. "Well I liked when Bilbo saved them all from the spiders."

"Oh yes, that's a really good spot too!" Hermione agreed enthusiastically. "That's when Bilbo really proves himself to the dwarves and they start to trust him more." Harri nodded. She mainly liked the adventure part, but Hermione seemed to see extra layers in the story, which only impressed Harri more.

The two girls stayed and chatted about books as well as other things for close to an hour, when Hermione looked up at the clock and jumped up. "Shoot, my parents are probably worried, I was supposed to be outside 10 minutes ago." Harri just nodded and said goodbye, then picked up _The Fellowship of the Ring_ and started to read it.

As she walked through the now empty halls out to the front of the school, Hermione internally pondered the enigma that was her new friend. They'd talked a lot, even though most of the talking had been done by her, but she'd hardly learned much about Harri beyond who she was at school. Over the past few weeks she'd been staying later and later with Harri, but no matter how long she stayed in the library, she'd be the first to leave between the pair. Perhaps her parents just worked a bit later, but then again Harri had suspiciously never said anything about her family. Also a bit concerning was Harri's clothing, not because she cared about how her friend looked, but all of it looked to be secondhand and far too big. Those clothes would be big on Hermione, and she was close to half a foot taller than Harri. For now though, she'd keep all of these concerns to herself, but keep a closer eye on Harri for those sort of details.

As expected, when she got outside her parents car was there waiting for her. She slipped into the back door, only to receive an overly dramatic announcement from her father in the passenger seat, "**You are…"** he stopped to check his watch, "**Eleven minutes late young lady! What do you have to say for yourself!?"** The question was answered by her mother in the form of a light slap to his shoulder before she could even respond, and the two of them broke out into a fit of laughter while Hermione rolled her eyes in the backseat.

"Sorry Mum, Dad, I was just talking with Harri. She finished _The Hobbit_ and we just had to talk about it."

"Don't worry about it sweetie, just try to be on time in the future, okay?" Her mother flashed a smile, unseen by Hermione, to her father as she spoke. The two of them her beyond pleased at the recent development. Hermione had never had a best friend like this before, one she could barely shut up about.

"We'd love to meet your friend, Hermione," her father added. "Have you thought about inviting her over for a sleepover?"

One could almost see the gears turning in Hermione's mind as the thought about the idea, and then she gasped. "Why didn't I think of that before? That's a great idea!"

Her father chuckled again, "Well don't say that your old dad can't keep up with the bright women of this family."

Hermione turned to the window and looked out. They'd driven for a few minutes away from the school by now, but that wouldn't stop her. "Mum, can you turn around and go back to school so I can go ask Harri if she wants to have a sleepover?"

"Sorry sweetie but we need to go home and we still need to fix dinner. You can ask her tomorrow."

At this rejection, Hermione put on her best scowling face and moved around in the back seat, trying to catch her mother's view in one of the mirrors to show off her dissatisfaction.

* * *

~The Next Week~

Harri was a little surprised that Vernon had agreed to let her go to Hermione's house. It had taken a long phone call with Hermione's parents, but he seemed to be placated by the fact that they were both dentists, which apparently was impressive to him for some reason.

Along with her to school she took all the she's need to stay over with Hermione: toothbrush, extra underwear, and her favorite shirt, the one that didn't fall off her shoulders all the time. When school ended, Hermione seemed even more excited than usual, a state Harri hadn't thought possible until just now. Harri almost walked to the library on autopilot, but Hermione pulled her back on course and out to the parking lot outside the school.

It took a little while for for Hermione to find her parents' car among the rush, now that they were leaving right at the end of school, but eventually she led Harri over. Her parents were waiting outside the car to greet them, and they approached the pair of girls to meet them. "Hi there, so you're the famous Harri, right?" Hermione's father asked as he came over to greet them.

As he got closer and started to tower over Harri, she took a tiny step back and flinched a tiny bit. He didn't miss this little detail and acted quickly, squatting down so that he was at eye level with his daughter's friend. She seemed to be more alright with his presence now, so he continued, "Well we're all happy to have you over. Hermione's been planning what to do for the whole week. She even has a schedule written down," he added with a wink.

"Daaaaaad, stop it. I don't have a schedule written out," Hermione complained loudly. "Don't listen to him Harri, he's just trying to embarrass me." She truthfully didn't have a schedule written down; she had instead memorized her plans for what to do with Harri.

Harri smiled as their antics continued during the car ride. It was a bit overwhelming being the center of attention for Hermione and her parents. She'd managed to get used to Hermione's attention, but it was a big jump from one person to three.

"Come on, let's go up to my room!" Hermione exclaimed as she jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped rolling. Harri followed quickly behind as her friend led her inside and up to her room. Once inside, and with the door shut, Harri had to just stop and stare. Hermione's bedroom was the same size as Dudley's, but where Dudley had dozens of toys, Hermione instead had dozens upon dozens of books. And of course Hermione's room was spotless, everything neatly organized.

Alright, so here's what we're going to do first," Hermione instructed as she set her backpack down and turned to Harri, eager to have as much fun as possible for her first sleepover.

Back downstairs, the Granger parents discussed their impressions of their daughter's friend. "She certainly seems quite nice, if a bit shy. She seemed a bit nervous to meet us," Emma Granger remarked to her husband as they made their way inside.

"Yeah, I saw. Well if she's shy, it does make sense that she'd be a little nervous about meeting her friend's parents. Hopefully she can get used to us; she does seem comfortable around Hermione, so there's that."

The two of them worked on preparing a nice dinner for themselves and the girls, calling them down when they finished. Hermione went straight to her seat and the table, but Harri automatically wandered into the kitchen, only to see that dinner was already finished cooking. "Oh. They already cooked," Harri said to herself somewhat enigmatically, then joined Hermione at the table.

It felt a little strange to her to sit at the table with everyone else. She was used to either eating in her cupboard under the stairs, or sometimes at the table after everyone had gone to sleep. Hermione's parents set a plate in front of her, and on it were some potatoes and a food she hadn't eaten before. She wasn't sure, but she guessed that it was some kind of fish, but the orange-pink color was foreign to her. She took a little bite, only to find out how wonderful it tasted, very different from the taste of most other fish. She didn't want them to know she'd never tried it before, so she kept quiet during the meal and somehow finished the huge portion they'd set out for her.

"How did you like the salmon Harri? Would you like some more?" Emma Granger asked.

"Oh, uhh, no, I couldn't imagine eating any more," Harri replied, surprised by the offer for seconds after such a large first serving. She made sure to remember the name of the fish, so she wouldn't be embarrassed for not knowing it.

"Come on, let's go back to my room," Hermione insisted as soon as it was confirmed that Harri was done eating. Both parents just smiled and let them go back to whatever it is they were up to in Hermione's room.

The next morning, both parents slept in a little, enjoying the Saturday off, knowing that likely the girls would be sleeping in too. Dan Granger woke up just after seven, and with his wife still asleep went downstairs to start a pot of coffee and breakfast. However, when he got to the ground floor something was amiss. The lights were on, and there was a bit of noise. He stopped to listen for a moment, and after just a few seconds he recognized the sound of something sizzling on the stove.

Alarm bells ringing in his head, he rushed into the kitchen, as was shocked at what he found. In front of the stove was one of the dining room chairs, and standing on top of it was Harri. As he turned the corner, Harri turned around to look at him, and in the most casual tone simply said, "Oh, good morning," then turned back to whatever she was doing at the stove.

Dan nearly sprinted across the kitchen towards the girl and grabbed her around the waist. He almost missed, as her baggy shirt hid exactly where her skinny chest was positioned. Undeterred, he picked her up and carried her away from the stove, to the living room.

In his arms, Harri's expression changed from shock at first, then worry, then panic as she flailed around. "What are you doing? Let me go!" she cried out, confused as to what she did wrong. She was used to being punished for doing things wrong, and she thought she hadn't made any mistakes. "Let me go now, or else the food is going to burn!" she pleaded.

Dan Granger set her down on the couch, one hand still holding her down but more gently now, looking down at her with a confused and sad expression. "Harri, why did you do that?" he asked solemnly.

"Do what?" Harri was confused now. "I'm sorry, I thought I was making your favorites. I even asked Hermione last night. Sausage and eggs over easy, right? Right?"

He sighed, slowly starting to understand. "No Harri, why did you wake up at–God, when did you get up, six?–why did you get up so early and do something so dangerous?"

"W-what do you mean? I was making breakfast for you. You-you've been so nice to me, and you even cooked for me last night, so I _had_ to pay you back. I had to! I'm sorry," Harri started sobbing, confused and scared and ashamed.

Dan patted gently her on the head, trying to calm her down. "Please Harri, everything is going to be alright. I'll take care of everything. Just stay right here for me, okay? Can you do that for me?" She looked up and nodded, tears still flowing. "Alright, I'll be right back."

Back through the kitchen, Dan took the half-cooked pan of sausage and egg off the burner and turned it off. Then he quickly but carefully made his way upstairs to his room, and shook his wife awake. "Emma, I need your help right now. We need to do something about Harri."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Thank you so much to all of the wonderful people who have already reviewed this story. Such an immediate positive response pushed me to get out chapter 2 right away. Now from here on out I won't list everyone who comments, but just for my first story I'd like to thank (from both FF and AO3): Bonsly24, ThunderClaw03, smithback, Riddikulus Witch, MisterDarkspring, and especially Lady Sloane who was the first and also has an avatar of my favorite animal.

Once again, comments are extremely helpful, both for motivation and feedback on how the story is going. This time, I want to know how you feel about the pacing. I often find that stories that start with the characters this young get bogged down at the start without ever getting to the heart of the story. But I also don't want to rush. I'm envisioning about 1-2 more chapters like this before Harri goes to Hogwarts, and then perhaps 2-3 covering Harri's years 1-4 at Hogwarts (and Hermione during that time too). Let me know what you think of that tentative outline, or any of your other thoughts on the story.

~ JAE


	3. Chapter 3

~December 1988~

Dan Granger hung up the phone, and turned to his wife, letting out a long sigh of disappointment. "They said there's nothing they can do. They didn't find anything suspicious at their home."

Emma was stunned. "What do you mean there's nothing they can do!? You heard what Harri told us, they keep her locked in a closet! They barely feed her! How can they not do anything about that!?" Just thinking about it again was enough to get her seething with anger.

"Emma, please try to calm down, and don't get mad at me," he said as he wrapped an arm around her. "I hate this as much as you, but getting mad about it won't solve anything. It seems that those people either are good at hiding any evidence, or they're very well connected, or both."

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "So what do we do now then?" she asked. "Because we can't just do nothing about this. We need to help Harri somehow."

"Well... hmmm," Dan stopped to think about what could be done in this situation before he came to an idea. "So if we can't do anything about this by going through legal channels, what if we could find a solution through negotiation?"

"What are you on about now?" Emma asked, not understanding where he was going with this.

"What if I were to talk to Harri's family, and see about working out some sort of deal. They certainly seemed happy enough for us to take care of her for a couple nights before. What if they were open to us doing that in a greater capacity?"

"You think he might go for that?" Emma asked nervously, deeply worried about her daughter's best friend. "Wait, what are you proposing. That she come live with us?" Her mind jumped to the logistics of the situation only after thinking about Harri's safety.

"I think I might be able to convince him. And well, I don't want to make any decisions without your input, but we do have an extra bedroom and then means to take care of her. If the possibility is on the table, I feel like I have a responsibility to help her as much as possible."

Emma took a moment to think it over. "I agree. But how do you think Hermione would react to all of this?"

"Well I think she certainly wouldn't mind having Harri here more often. Lord knows it's hard enough to pry her off the girl already. It's not even a day after having Harri over before she's asking when the next time we can do it again. But I think we'd have to explain, or try to, why Harri would stay with us. Hermione's a smart girl, I think she'd understand, at least somewhat."

"Alright, so how should we do this then?" Emma questioned.

"I still have their phone number from before. I suppose I'll just give them a call right now and see what I can accomplish."

His wife nodded and Dan picked up the phone again, a little nervous this time, and dialed the Dursleys' number.

"Hello? Who's this?" a gruff voice answered.

"Hello, Vernon?" Dan asked, doing what he could to be polite, despite the deep animosity he had for these people. "This is Dan Granger. I'm the father of Harri's friend. We talked last month. Do you have a few minutes to spare?"

"Ah, you. I bet you're the one who called the police on me, aren't you? No one else would care about that little rat," Vernon replied, his voice dripping with venom, believing Dan to be the one in the wrong. "I don't need to talk to you, goodbye–"

Dan interrupted him, hoping to catch him before he hung up. Not thirty seconds in and it was hard to imagine this conversation going any worse. "Wait!" he interjected. "I'm very sorry about that. I'd like to talk with you though, about trying to strike a deal that might benefit us both." It pained him to have to apologize for trying to protect a child, but he had to be pragmatic and play Vernon's game.

Vernon returned the phone to his ear, having been close to hanging it up. "A deal? And what do you have to offer?" he asked with a predatory smile curling up his round face.

"Well I know you don't love having to house and provide for Harri. Well what if I could talk that problem off your hands?" he proposed optimistically.

"You want to have the little brat stay with you? For how long?"

"As long as you'll let us take care of her," he responded, looking over at his wife, who nodded back encouragingly.

"I'll have to talk to my wife about this. I certainly wouldn't mind getting rid of the freak, but it's her sister's kid. Hang on–"

In the Granger house, Dan quickly filled Emma in on the conversation so far, and then started to pace around the room as far as the cord would let him, nervously waiting for the Dursleys' decision.

"Alright." The sudden voice back in his ear nearly made Dan jump. "I have a few conditions for you. First, you don't tell anyone anything about this situation, especially the police. Second, you take care of her during the week, but we'll keep her on the weekends. Gotta have her do her chores sometime, hahaha," Vernon laughed. Somehow Dan didn't think Harri's "chores" would be suitable tasks for an eight year old girl. He was about to respond, when Vernon loudly continued, "And don't try to argue with me. I'm doing _you_ a favor here. I could just say no to all of this, got that?"

"Yes, I understand," Dan answered solemnly. "So, can we talk specifics now? How soon do you want to start this?"

For the next half an hour or so, the two men discussed the details of their arrangement. After they were finished, Dan hung up the phone, went over to the couch and fell down onto it, exhausted. "God, talking to that man is horrible. I had to stop myself from shouting at him the entire time."

"You did better than I could have honey," Emma said as she stood behind the couch and massaged her tired husband's shoulders.

"I hate that we can't do more for her. I feel so powerless," he added dejectedly as he hung his head.

"I know, I feel the same way, but we're doing everything we can. Still, we've made progress, and perhaps we can do more and more for her in the future."

Finally satisfied for now, Dan let himself relax into the loving embrace of his wife.

* * *

~Two Days Later~

"Mum, Dad, why is Harri coming home with us today? We're not having a sleepover are we, since it's Monday, right? Not that I'm complaining, but..." Hermione asked as she and her best friend slipped into the back seat of her parents car. Harri had been acting a little strange all day and then had surprised her by telling her that she was coming home to her house. How was Hermione the last to know about this?

"This is a bit of a unique circumstance honey," her mother responded from the driver's seat. "We'll explain everything to you when we get home, alright?"

"Alright," Hermione answered, but she was anything but satisfied. Her mind raced with all the possibilities that might be the cause of everyone behaving so strangely. She turned to look at Harri, but her friend quickly ducked away and looked out the window, dodging Hermione's inquisitive gaze. She briefly considered asking Harri what was going on, but it seemed she didn't want to talk about it, and Hermione reluctantly accepted that she'd have to wait until she got home to learn the truth.

Once home, Hermione's parents brought everyone to sit down together in the living room. "So, I'm sure you're wondering what's going on dear," her mother began. Hermione looked around, her mum and dad were looking at her with grave faces, and Harri was sitting on a chair, legs pulled up and arms wrapped around them, looking down at the floor and rocking back and forth nervously.

"So this may be hard for you to hear Hermione, but we think you're mature enough to understand it," Emma continued and then paused, trying to remember the words she planned to used, how best to phrase things. "Harri's family isn't exactly like ours. She lives with her aunt and uncle and they don't treat her very well. We tried everything we could to help her, but the best we could do would be to have Harri stay with us during the week. Would that be alright with you?"

"Of course!" Hermione replied emphatically. "But how can her family get away with that!? Aren't there rules against that!?"

"There are," her father added. "But sometimes the rules don't always work. The world isn't perfect, but we're going to try to make it the best we can."

"But, but…" Hermione's young mind struggled to understand as one of the pillars of her worldview was irreparably damaged. She always believed that everyone needed to follow the rules, and that through them, everyone could be happy. But now she had proof that systems don't always produce perfect outcomes, and that proof was now no longer looking down at the floor, but instead looking at her with a nervous, uncertain expression.

"Why don't you two girls go up to your room Hermione, and maybe you can talk by yourselves. We'll finish up making the guest room ready for Harri." And with that her parents left and let Hermione lead Harri up to her room.

As the door shut, Hermione's attention shifted from Harri's situation to Harri herself and Hermione ran over and embraced the smaller girl, nearly tackling Harri onto her bed. She held her friend tightly for almost a minute as a few tears dripped down Hermione's cheek. Eventually she let go and sat down on her bed, and after a moment of indecision, Harri joined her.

"So," Hermione started carefully. "Why didn't you ever tell me about this? I thought we were supposed to tell each other everything."

Harri looked ashamed, looking away from Hermione again, but eventually answered, "I-I didn't want to make you sad."

Hermione frowned as she struggled to understand. "I don't mind being sad, okay? I want you to be able to talk to me about these things. Do you want to talk about this?"

Harri looked up at her, now with tears of her own. She didn't answer, but crawled along the bed and hugged her friend again, and Hermione could feel Harri shaking her head "no." She still had so many questions about her friend's life, but she realized now might not be the time to ask about that.

Harri didn't stop hugging her, and the pair laid down together on the bed. "So where's your stuff? Are we going to need to go pick up your clothes and things from your family?" Hermione asked.

Harri let go of her now and went to her school backpack, unzipped it and pulled a single small handful of clothes out from it. "No, it's alright, I have all my stuff," she responded, somewhat ashamed.

Hermione's eyes widened, realizing how little Harri really had. "Mum! Dad! We need to go shopping! Right now! For Harri!" Hermione called out, knowing her parents were just across the hall. Harri blushed, but looked a little fascinated at the idea.

"Alright, just give us a few minutes and we'll go buy some clothes for Harri!" Hermione smiled as her mother shouted back, eager to start to turn Harri's life around.

* * *

~Christmas 1988~

Harri sat on the park bench, shivering amidst the snowy morning landscape. She was shivering in anticipation, or at least that was most of it. Her winter coat kept her warm, just one of many gifts from the Granger family, which she carefully hid when she was at the Dursleys' house. She couldn't stop her leg from bouncing up and down though, a symptom of her excitement to get to celebrate Christmas for the first time, instead of being locked under the stairs.

She mentally thanked anyone out there who might listen for the fact that Vernon had let her leave for the day. Yesterday she had been put to work, making a feast for Christmas Eve, wrapping all of Dudley's presents, baking cookies, and everything else they could think of, but all of that work felt so much easier knowing that she would get to spend this day with the Grangers.

She wasn't waiting long before a familiar car came to pick her up. "Oh get in Harri! Have you been sitting out in the cold long?" Emma Granger asked worriedly as Harri sat down in the car.

"It's alright. I don't mind, and it wasn't very long," Harri lied.

Hermione's mother gave her a suspicious look through the rear-view mirror, seeing her red cheeks and her messy black hair tinged with quickly melting snowflakes, but didn't say anything. "Well it's glad to have you with us again Harri, we haven't gotten to see you since winter break started. Hermione's missed you a lot; have you been doing alright?"

"Yeah, it hasn't been too bad." She didn't want to talk too much about her life beyond the Grangers, and they wouldn't press her too hard for evading their questions.

Hermione was still in her pajamas, and blushed a bit as her mum told Harri she missed her, though it was completely true. She gave her friend and smile and a little half-hug, the best she could do while both were wearing their seatbelts. "I'm glad to have you back, Harri."

The car ride passed in light conversation; they discussed their favorite Christmas cookies and when it came to Harri to share her favorite she lied and said gingerbread cookies. She had baked and decorated them for the Durselys, and they smelled good even if she hadn't gotten to eat them. Apparently the Grangers had some back at their house, and were eager to share with her.

When they got to the house, Hermione rushed inside, followed shortly behind by Harri, who found her friend on the living room floor sitting close to their tree. She looked on in amazement at the amount of presents under the tree; it was more than what she'd wrapped for Dudley, which surprised her as she didn't think Hermione's parents were the type to heap gifts on their daughter. "Wow, you're getting a lot of presents," she commented.

"Oh, yeah, I suppose it is quite a lot, but I'm not complaining," Hermione giggled.

A couple minutes later Hermione's parents reappeared, coffee cups in hand, and sat down to watch the fun. "Why don't you both open one to kick things off?" Dan proposed with a smile.

"Sure!" Hermione scampered over and grabbed present after checking the tag, then brought it back. Harri however was stuck to her spot.

"Umm, you want me to help her open it?" she asked, a bit confused Dan's instructions.

"Hahaha, no, take one of the presents for you and open it at the same time as Hermione," he corrected her.

Harri's eyes widened as she slowly went over to the tree. "You… you got me a present? But you've already given me so many things! I don't need anything more," she implored, already thankful for everything they'd done for her. Nevertheless, she checked the tag on the first one she saw, and found it marked as "To Harri, from Santa."

"Well of some of them are from Santa," Hermione's mum retorted cheekily. "You've been a good girl this year, haven't you?"

She didn't have any inclination to believe in Santa, since she was the one labeling half of Dudley's gifts as "from Santa" as well as not receiving any gifts from him before, but she understood enough to play along, just in case Hermione still believed in Santa. Her friend quickly relieved her of that notion though, as she saw Hermione roll her eyes and then giggle as her mum talked about Santa.

Still under the tree, Harri decided to check some of the other presents out of curiosity. He found another labelled for her, then another, and another. "Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger," Harri started to ask, "umm, just how many are for me?"

"Half of them are for you dear," Emma replied. "Well, just as many as Hermione. There are a couple meant for us, from Santa."

Harri went back to sit down with Hermione, nearly overwhelmed by the amount of love and care Hermione and her family continued to show her. She simply sat there and stared at the gift for a while, trying not to cry tears of what would be joy. "Ready to start?" Hermione asked her, reaching out to hold her hand and breaking her reverie.

Harri nodded in reply and together they opened the first of many gifts. It was almost an hour later when all the gifts were opened, stacked in a neat pile for each person and the wrapping paper collected in a trash bag at Hermione's insistence, rather than strewn across the room.

"There's one more gift for you Harri," Hermione smiled as she pulled an envelope out from under the couch. She eagerly opened it, and pulled out a photo of the four of them, taken a few weeks earlier when they had gone ice skating. They had all stood on the ice while a member of the staff took their picture.

In the photo, Emma and Dan stood behind holding hands, while the two girls were in front, Harri desperately clutching her taller friend in an attempt to keep herself from falling. She had looked to the camera to smile as they had taken the picture, only for Harri to topple over moments later, taking Hermione down with her. After that, her first experience with ice skating had ended and they all had hot chocolate. Harri stared at the picture, smiling as it brought back nice memories, and set it carefully atop her stack of presents.

Hermione looked on, pleased at how much Harri enjoyed her first real Christmas, before announcing, "Alright, now that we're done here we can go on to the next part! There's stuff to make gingerbread houses in the kitchen!"

As the two girls darted out of the room, Emma and Dan gave each other a warm smile, and a quick kiss, then followed into the kitchen.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I'm trying to strike a balance between extreme Dursley abuse and just glossing over it. I often dislike when a fic makes things very extreme in that regard, but it also doesn't feel right to just ignore any implications of it.

After this chapter I'm planning on skipping ahead faster, covering the rest of pre-Hogwarts (for Harri) in the next chapter or chapter and a half.

Also, I'm going to put a poll up on my profile (on FF, sorry AO3 peeps) for what my next fanfic should be. This one is still not even close to being close to done, and it will remain my priority, but I like to have something else to work on when I'm stuck with this or if I get a bit burned out. I have a number of different ideas, so let me know which kind you're most interested in.

And as always, I greatly appreciate all of your reviews. They help motivate me and just make my days better.

~ JAE


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